Vice President Kashim Shettima on Tuesday, reaffirmed Nigeria’s commitment to addressing its growing nutrition challenges through a community-driven strategy aimed at transforming nutrition outcomes across Nigeria’s 774 local government areas (LGAs).
He spoke during a meeting with a high-level delegation from the World Bank Group at the Presidential Villa Abuja on Tuesday, presenting the N-774 initiative’s strategic framework as a potential model for tackling malnutrition in the country and across the region.
A statement issued by his spokesman, Stanley Nkwocha, explained that the comprehensive N-774 Initiative builds on successful outcomes from the Accelerating Nutrition Results in Nigeria (ANRiN) project.
The Vice President, while acknowledging the support of the World Bank on numerous nutrition programmes across Nigeria, noted that the N-774 initiative comes at a crucial time considering the ANRiN project closeout.
He said, “The administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is pioneering a paradigm shift in nutrition programmes through locally owned solutions. The N-774 Initiative represents our commitment to community-driven development and sustainable nutrition outcomes.”
Shettima explained that the N-774 Initiative is a localised, community-driven solution tailored towards the unique needs of each LGA and aims to bring nutrition interventions directly to communities while encouraging local ownership and ensuring sustainability.
“Malnutrition is a Nigerian problem that needs a Nigerian solution, and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is very much willing to support such an initiative,” he said, adding that the project integrates nutrition goals across education, agriculture, health, and social protection sectors.
On the project implementation strategy, Shettima said it was important to leverage current political will to reverse the country’s negative nutrition indicators.
“The Renewed Hope Administration is committed to swift, impactful results through this innovative approach to nutrition intervention.
“With sustained collaboration between the federal and subnational governments, and international partners, we are confident this initiative will yield significant improvements in our community health outcomes,” the Vice President stated.
The World Bank delegation, including the Country Director, Regional Director for West and Central Africa, and the Practice Manager for Health Global Practice, expressed a strong commitment to the initiative’s bottom-up approach to addressing nutrition challenges.
Specifically, the Country Director of the World Bank, Ndiame Diop, thanked the Vice President for his leadership in coordinating multi-stakeholder collaboration in setting agenda on nutrition issues in public discourses.
He added that it is important to see Nigeria’s government’s ongoing financing for nutrition, just as he announced that the bank had earmarked $50 million under ANRiN 2.0 program, which is a crisis response window.
Also, the Practice Manager for Health, Nutrition and Population at the World Bank, Trina Haque, said there is a need for nutrition education for children and adolescents as it is important for early child development.
